Jim Mapplebeck

In 2017 I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I decided to film my time in waiting rooms, surgery and chemotherapy. Shot exclusively on the iPhone X, The Waiting Room is an unflinching portrait of the blood, sweat and tears of cancer treatment. At home I filmed with my teenage son, as we came to terms with how family life was transformed by a year of living with cancer. The Waiting Room challenges the cultural myths that surround this disease, putting under the microscope the language of illness. The Waiting Room documents illness from a patient’s POV, exploring what we can and what we can’t control when our bodies fail us. The Waiting Room 30 minute smartphone short was broadcast on The Guardian website as part of their documentaries strand.

Missed Call explores the many ways in which our lives are lived and archived via the phones we hold so close. Shot on an iPhone X, Missed Call explores Victoria’s relationship with her teenage son Jim , as they discuss how they’ll reconnect with his father, who’s been absent for a decade. How do you reconnect with a father who’s been gone for so long…what do you say, what do you text? Missed Call begins with the last message he sent in 2006 and ends with the first call to him over a decade later. The film explores Missed Call was commissioned for the Real Stories’ YouTube channel and SVOD app. Since it launched, it has received over a million views across YouTube, Facebook Watch and other video platforms. Prizes BAFTA - Won Best Short Form Film award - 2019 - Missed Call was the first commissioned short film to be shot on the iPhone X to win a BAFTA Broadcast Awards - Won Best Short documentary - 2019